No Matter How You Say It
by Pikatainment c.c
Summary: When Loki and the Avengers are introduced to dream share, what could possibly go wrong? Eventual relationship between OC's and Loki /Arthur. Collaboration with CovenantGirLoki .Disclaimer- We do not own the characters from The Avengers or Inception. We came up with the storyline and OC's. Also we will be alternating between chapters, I am writing 1,3,5 etc. She is writing 2,4,6 etc
1. Chapter 1

No Matter How You Say It

~To Fall So Far

Although he was gracious to be rid of those retched chains, he could not help but wonder if he really had gotten the short end of the stick…

As he followed the steps of the guards escorting him, he searched the crowd for his brother. Where had that dim witted prince wandered off to, surely he would not miss the chance to see his beloved 'half-brother' banished and powerless; sent to the reaches of Midgard.

"Loki, brother," a booming voice reined over the crowd's incessant banter, "How are you fairing through all this?" Thor enquired; seeming to care more than his adopted brother would like to believe. With a stern glare, Loki searched his brother's eyes for a sign of remorse, that he would miss the younger prince. Having found no such emotions, he replied with a lack of eye contact, "How do I fair? How do you think I fair BROTHER!? You think me weak enough as to whimper and beg for forgiveness? I will do no such thing you imbecile!"

For a moment Loki regretted taking such a tone whilst in restraints, Thor glaring at him with an undeniable look of pure insult. This, however, passed quickly as they arrived at the All-father's feet. Loki immediately bowed his head, as pitiful as he appeared submitting to the power of the All-father, he did not need anger him any further than his past endeavours had.

"Loki, my son," the All-father spoke in a calm, but powerful, booming voice, "You have well paid your dues in the prisons of Asgard, but I am not convinced you have seen the error to your ways, nor are you willing to yield such devious plotting against the realms…" The All-father paused, moving his gaze from Loki to the golden, glistening ground before him and back to his eldest son's gaze. Thor met his father's gaze, momentarily, before looking at his own feet, peering ever so slightly in the direction of the younger prince; a look of regret engulfing his features.

"I have decided… You are to be banished, from Asgard, to the realm of which you were so set on destroying. Midgard will serve you well in your rehabilitation and until you regain the full lengths of your magic, you will be unable to communicate in any form with Asgard or any other realm."

Loki's gaze snapped up to the All-father, surprise and angst evident in his usually well hidden eyes. He glared at Thor, who seemed to cringe at the very look he had been given.

"My magic? You would send me to the wretches of Midgard without any means of power? How shall I recover my magic then?" He began to fret, which became apparent to his brother as he approached the kneeling prince. Thor reached out to comfort his brother, but was brushed off by an increasingly enraged Loki.

The All-father simply stared blankly at Loki, and then turned on his heel to lead the guards and his forsaken son away. Thor followed idly, in close pursuit of his brother, fearing he would never be forgiven for allowing such a horrible fate on him.

They arrived at an entrance; hidden in darkness, aside from the faint glow that seemed to emit from Odin's very being. Loki snickered to himself. Of course his father was encased in a golden glow of greatness; he did stand for all that was pure and good. This thought made Loki snort absurdly, causing Thor to peer down at him in query.

"Brother," he whispered in an unusually soft hum, "what do you ponder on at such a time that would amuse you so?"

He looked across at his brother, now in direct line with his eyes. Loki sought not to reply, but rather to humour his brother with an unintelligible look. This worried Thor slightly; however, he had not the chance to question any further as the All-father had begun to speak over them.

"Today, Asgard loses one of its princes," he announced to the small crowd. "But he will not be lost forever…We send him to the mortal realm in hope he will return to us, changed and without the evil that corrupts his mind."

A faint murmur hushed over the group of Asgardians, causing an uneasy look to plant itself on Loki's face. He stared up to his father with sadness evident in the very emerald of his iris. Whether Odin had noticed this or not, he did not speak of it; instead, he looked to Heimdall, who nodded in return. Loki felt a burst of power pulsate throughout his body, lifting him into the air. The tunnel brightened in a fixture of multiple coloured lights, and the prince was gone…

The streets were lit up by the lights of cars, buildings and lamp posts. Lea was amazed at how alive the city could get during such hours of the night. New York had always been an energetic place to live and breathe, but she sometimes missed the peace and calm of the countryside.

'You are, a cinema, I could watch you forever,' her charming remix ringtone began to chime from the pocket in her jeans.

"Yo, what's up Fraya, how's the job going?" she asked mockingly, with an almost sinister grin appearing on her face as she answered with her Bluetooth earpiece.

"Oh you know the job went ok…it's just…well… Nothing really… Umm, if you wanna like, stay out tonight after your little showcase thingy. You know go to one of those… Interesting after parties, I totally get that, and you don't have to worry about coming home. It's fine. I will entertain myself, aha…" Fraya seemed to be leading to something, but what, Lea did not really care.

"Right, well I shall be coming home, so you won't have to entertain yourself my dear. And do remember to have fun with your job. Bye bye." Lea mocked her friend once again and hung up.

As she approached the showcase she began to ponder whether she should indeed return home tonight. Looking up at the increasingly crowded stadium with the word 'Stark Industries' lighting up the sky, she decided tonight would definitely be a long night for them all.

After setting up some of her larger designs, Lea began to work through her assortment of smaller innovations. Absorbed in her work, she had missed the tall and slender figure peering over her shoulder to the technology of which she had been fiddling. She glanced up seeing the shadow towering over her strands of inventions and designs.

"Do you really think Stark would appreciate your tinkering with his, 'stuff'?" the stranger queried, still standing over the young inventor. Lea stood immediately, turning to face the insult aimed at her by the stranger.

"I don't know who you are, or why you're standing over me like 'god-all-mighty', but this work right here… This. Is. Mine! Not Tony, freaking, Starks!" Lea was quickly becoming more and more opposed to this name-less man.

He simply looked at her with a face of humour, feeding the rage she failed to contain. Opening her mouth to challenge him with a remark of wit, they were interrupted by an, all-too-familiar voice.

"Lea, my talented little rival, how ARE you doing? Heard you weren't gonna show actually. But here you are. Here. At this very show case, putting your case on show and such," the man always had a way of putting things that made Lea both insulted and amused.

"Ah, Tony, I see you are as challenged by my talent as always. Do you honestly have nothing better to do than fuss over rivals, or is it just my work that intrigues you so?" she had gotten unusually used to Tony's childish rivalry, but had continued to humour him with such a response.

He did nothing, just smiled and shifted his gaze from the young woman to the bountiful supply of new tech behind her. As he made his way over to the stand, he continued the conversation,

"Oh you always say that, but I'm the one with the successful supply of clean energy powering my tower. Oh and did I mention, I have a tower, with my name on it?"

"Last I saw your tower said 'A', not Stark. And you seem to forget about my equally as successful business, with my equally as tall tower. Not to mention, MY tower also has a minimal negative effect on the environment," she was enjoying out smarting the man whose intellect was supposed to exceed all others.

As entertained as she was watching the other inventor ponder possible comebacks, she noticed the expression on the third parties face. He looked both amused and slightly anxious. It seemed Tony had realised he did not hold all of the younger inventor's attention, causing him to follow her line of sight. His eyes widened and a look of pure horror washed over his face.

"You have got to be kidding me!" he stormed forward, pulling Lea behind him in an almost defensive stance. She was taken aback by the action and frankly, quite startled by the reaction the tall man before them had provided.

"What are you doing here!? I thought you were imprisoned on Asgard! How did you escape from Thor, you were basically chained to him!?" Tony Stark let a tone of serious curiosity flood his words.

"Wait, what?" Lea questioned, worried as to the direction the conversation was heading.

"Bah! I served my time in chains, now I am banished to this accursed realm until," the stranger stopped, not wanting to continue his sentence.

"Until what?" Tony was quite curious by this point.

Not replying, the stranger stood in silence, staring at his feet. Lea took this opportunity to speak,

"What ARE you on about Tony? Asgard, chains, imprisonment? What exactly am I missing here?" She began, almost to yell at the two men, sharing a glare between them.

They looked towards one another, then back to the young woman. Tony had a sudden look of regret and peered to the side, away from Lea and the other figure, who stepped towards her.

"I am Loki, prince of Asgard, the realm of the gods," he seemed keen to continue, but was interrupted.

"Right, yeah, I gathered that. You don't exactly look the part for Thor, the god of thunder. But...umm…," she began to become frustrated with the confusion.

"Listen all you need to know is that standing before you is a very powerful, very dangerous man. In fact, he is the one who almost destroyed New York with the whole invasion thing, or did you miss that?" Tony had blurted out.

"So you're the bastard who took out half my top floor with your flying beast thing!? I had countless amounts of inventions and designs in that particular wing! You… bu… _SON OF A BITCH!_"

Loki stared at the girl with shock and awe. No one had ever spoken to him like THAT before. He hadn't expected such a reaction. But no one would speak of his mother like that. No one would speak of HIM like that!

"You foolish mortal, how dare you refer to my mother with such a tone! I will not tolerate your insolence!"

"Foolish? Mortal? Who exactly do you think you are talking to because I am not foolish neither am I… You have no right to call me so!" Lea quickly changed her train of thought mid-sentence.

Both the men watched as a fire began to burn in Lea's eyes. Loki snickered, smiling at Lea, then turning to Tony and raising an eye brow, while maintaining the smile.

"You have an interesting choice of friends Stark, I wonder if you might enjoy surrounding yourself with those of a much lower intelligence than your own, just to make yourself feel smarter," he smiled more gleefully now, looking back towards Lea before he began to walk off.

"Hmm, I pray you my godly friend, ponder this," she paused, a devious grin appearing on her own face, "Doth thou even lift?"

Loki stopped in his tracks, confusion spread across his face. He turned his head, allowing a peripheral image of the two mortals behind him. Lea offered a knowing grin before she and Tony headed towards the main stage of the showcase. Loki continued to exit the grounds, his mind running over the conversation he had just had. Who was she..?

"Oh hey Pepper, could you be a darl and pack up my comrades stand of endless inventions," Tony Stark gave his loyal secretary yet another order, which she followed reluctantly.

"You really should stop introducing me to all your crazy gods and superheroes. It is boring and tedious and that's yet another bunch of myths I have to read up on in order to keep up with your whinging and whining," Lea was tired and she really just wanted to go home.

The giant stage spread for almost the entire width of the stadium; lights lining both the top and bottom of the structure. Lea and Tony sat in the front row of seats and pointed their attention to the young woman standing on the stage. She was wearing an office type dress, stiletto heels and had her hair tied back tightly. Lea rolled her head back on the head rest, exhausted and in utter boredom, awaiting the first set of 'inventions' to be presented. When Tony let out an obnoxious 'Ha' Lea turned her head, still leaning back, to the puzzling man.

"Of course they start with the worst to build up to the best," Tony directed a hand to focus on the first inventor for the night.

"You've got to be joking… What is he doing OUT OF PRISON!?" Lea shot a look of distraught at her comrade and back to the inventor currently show-boating on stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, but mostly ladies," the sad little man winked at the crowd.

"Oh God," Lea held her hands to her face, sitting in a slouch in her chair.

"He really knows how to introduce himself, I'll give him that," Tony chimed in response to Lea's disappointed glare at the man on stage.

"Why does he have to be here? I already have my hands full with you around to taunt me," another look of disappointment flooded Lea's face.

"Did you just admit I'm handful? So I do get to you, Hazar!" The man seemed pleased with himself. Lea shook her head.

As the showcase finally drew to an end, the announcer kept the crowd seated for an extra minute or so to declare the presence of an honoured guest. Lea watched as the overly-proud inventor next to her began to stand, awaiting his name to be called over the microphone. Lea just rolled her eyes, leaning her head in her left hand and sighed.

"Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we can some very special inventions on show. Please welcome to the stage, Tony Stark," he started towards the stage, "and Lea Tanen-Emble."

Lea's eyes grew wide. Tony froze on the spot, taking in what had just been said. He turned to Lea, seeing her slowly rise from the seat next to his own. Her eyes suddenly snapped to him, appearing to have lessened in size. As they made their way up to the stage a Dubstep remix of ACDC's most classic hits began to play; the bass causing the very ground to shake.

"Son of a bitch…" Lea mumbled reaching the microphone a second after Tony. For a majority of what seemed to be an hour long speech Lea let her mind think to itself, not paying any attention to her surroundings. However, when it finally came to the end of Tony's rant, it was her turn to step up. Her mind suddenly blanked; she had no clue what to say. Luckily, before she had the chance to make a fool of herself, the fireworks started.

As everyone turned and stared in amusement, Lea took her leave. Sneaking through the exit backstage and making sure she collected her box of inventions, she escaped to her car.

She placed her stuff on the back seat and hoped behind the wheel. The engine started with a powerful rev. She grinned; this was why she loved her car. With her foot on the accelerator, she sped off to her apartment. Lea took the scenic road, driving by the waterside and one of the many parks.

She turned up the radio; clocks started to stream from the speakers. Wind rushing through her hair, as there was no top to the vehicle.

"You-uuu-uu arr-ee," she began to sing to herself. "You-uu, are."

When she finally arrived at her destination, she drove up the spiralling path within the building, that lead to the garage. The doors closed behind her as she passed through the hallway from the elevator, into the lounge/dining room.

A look of query masked her face as she noticed her comrade. She was positioned on the largest lounge, hands running through her own hair. As she noticed Lea, looking at her with worry and confusion, she smiled.

"How was your invention convention," she snorted at her own word play.

Lea also let out a comical sigh, "Yeah good, good."

They both looked to their feet, knowing tonight had been more than a normal night.

"… How was the job?" Lea offered her friend a look of interest.

Fraya paused, "Easy, I mean I could have done it myself, you know, but…" She paused again, "It was fine until I met the point man."

Lea looked up to her friend, now sitting on the lounge beside her. She shared the distraught expression Fraya did, only with more worry than before…


	2. Chapter 2

No Matter How You Say It

**We own nothing**

**Warnings: Swearing and *cough* innuendoes ;)**

In the Fine Print

"_It was fine until I met the point man"_

The job had spanned no less than three weeks but it had left Fraya both mentally and physical exhausted. _'Which is ridiculous'_ she mused, _'seeing as it was only meant to be a straight forward job so I could pay off my debt with Cobb!'_

Fraya had received the call from Dom on a Sunday morning and was on the next flight out that night. Stepping off her private jet she sent a silent thank you to Lea for tinkering with the engine despite the pilot's disapproval (which had led to Lea reminding him that he was more or less expendable) which had resulted in the flight being an hour shorter.

After retrieving her suitcase and the silver briefcase in which her PASIV device resided in, she headed towards the pickup area where she was both shocked and pleased to see a familiar British man leaning against a rented Audi convertible. "Hello Darling how was your flight?" he called when he spotted her; a mischievous grin on his face.

"How many times must I tell you Eames? I am not your 'darling'! And the flight was blissfully short." She replied with mock seriousness and a flip of her long midnight black hair, sending it carelessly over her shoulders.

"Yes well how many times must _I_ tell _you_ that you are indeed a darling and until your finger bares a ring I shall continue to claim you as my own?" he retorted without missing a beat.

Fraya smiled despite herself. She'd had this conversation multiple times before and yet somehow the forger always managed to charm her with his response. She shook her head fondly with a smile as she reached the Brit. Looking up into those grey blue eyes she paled when she saw the familiar spark. "Eames no-" her protests were cut off when two strong arms wrapped themselves around her mid-section and lifted her high in the air in a bone shattering hug that momentarily stole the air from her lungs. Regaining her breath she yelled "God damn it Eames! Put me down!"

The forgers response was to spin her around quickly before he slowly lowered her to the ground, lips pulled wide in a smile as a laugh rang through his lips. "Lighten up darling, anyone would think you were related to Arthur!" he exclaimed.

At the mention of the Point Man Fraya's expression turned curious. "Ah the mysterious point man Cobb told me about. What's he like? Is he really as good as Cobb makes him out to be?"

Eames laughed, "Oh he's the best there is, but unfortunately he has no imagination. I swear to you I have never seen him out of a suit!" Fraya laughed. "No seriously! The man doesn't own a single pair of jeans!"

Fraya gasp in mock horror "No!"

Eames eyes widened as he exclaimed, "I know! The inhumanity!" Eames' sarcastic seriousness could only last so long before the façade cracked and his laughter once again rang free. "In all seriousness though, he is a nice guy once you get past the hard exterior and is loyal to a fault. Speaking of loyal, it's fantastic to see you again my dear." He said as he put her luggage in the boot before opening her door for her.

Fraya smiled. "It's good to see you again too Eames, contrary to popular belief, I've missed you terribly!"

"Not that one would know, seeing as you're so damn difficult to get in touch with!" Eames' retort was only half joking, and the knowledge hurt Fraya more than she would care to admit.

She leaned over and pecked him sweetly on the cheek in an attempt to hide the guilt she felt in the pit of her stomach. "Lo siento, but you know what this business is like. One can never have too many aliases, you taught me that."

"Ooh speaking Spanish ay? So is today's alias of a Spaniard background?" Eames brushed off her apology with a lazy grin.

"Not todays, but maybe someday." Fraya smiled back at him. "No today when I meet the rest of the team I shall be introducing myself as Shay."

Eames' eyes lit up at the name. It had been a long time since she had last used the alias he had invented for her so he was pleased to hear that she hadn't forgotten about the character he had created. "Shay the Shadow Extractor, ah how I've missed her. She always did know how to get the job done," he shot her a wink. "Not to mention her ability to hold her liquor."

Fraya laughed, "Not this time Eames, if I'm gonna use Shay more often than I'll need to reinvent her image."

"Whatever you say lovely." Eames' doubt was clear in his voice as they pulled out into the traffic and Fraya couldn't resist the urge to slap his arm lightly.

Twenty minutes of driving through the bustling streets later and the pair arrived at a slightly run down warehouse. Fraya smirked. _'I live in a beautiful high rise pent house in New York; I should be helping Lea get ready for her showcase. But no, I'm about infiltrate a mobsters mind so I can steal his secrets from his dreams in a crappy old warehouse…well that's life for ya.'_

"What are you smirking at missy?" Eames asked curiously.

"Are you ever going to run out of pet names?" She questioned.

"Firstly you didn't answer my question, and secondly no."

She laughed, "I was just thinking of how after all this time we are still using warehouses as bases."

"Just like old time ay dearest?" Eames said, fondly remembering the first time he had introduced Fraya to dreamshare.

"Come on Eames, there'll be time to reminisce after this job is done." Fraya said as she headed towards the warehouse. As she reached the door she stopped, she could hear two voices arguing from inside. She could easily recognise Cobb's voice.

"For the last time Arthur! I can't stay because Phillipa has a play on Wednesday and James has caught a cold!" Fraya was amazed at how domesticated Cobb sounded.

"If you knew that Phillipa's play was on why did you set up the job?!" this new voice was unfamiliar but given what Dom had said Fraya presumed it was Arthur. "And why would you leave it till now to tell us that you hired another extractor who, not only do we not know, but also has a different extracting technique?!"

"Eames has known her since she started in the business! And I know her too!" Cobb protested.

"Oh yeah because Eames' contacts are always _so_ reliable, no offence Yusuf."

Fraya turned to Eames, who was standing just behind her also listening to the yelled argument. "Nice guy huh?"

Eames shrugged, "Mostly…sorta, better go break it up before Arthur shoots Cobb in the foot…again." Fraya mouthed the word 'again' as Eames opened the door.

At the sound of the metal door being pulled open the argument stopped abruptly. Standing before her were two men. One she recognized as Dominic Cobb. It had been a year since she had last seen Dom and he had aged considerably in that time. His hair had thinned and his mid-section had rounded slightly. But it was more than that. Cobb looked tired. World tired…the type of tired only one in the dreamshare business could be; the type of tired that wore away at ones very mind. The type of tired that Fraya feared she would one day see in her own eyes. And yet Cobb, the ever practical Cobb, still trained his features into a tight smile as he walked over.

"Shay, so glad you could make it on such short notice." He said curtly as they shook hands.

Forcing herself to be the perfect embodiment of calm Fraya shook his hand politely. She and Cobb had known each other for years but not once in those years had he heard her real name. "Not a problem after all I do owe you one after Sydney." She reminded with a smile. Her smile widened slightly when she saw the tension in his shoulders ease somewhat.

"Good times." Cobb allowed himself to joke before he turned to introduce her to the other members of the team. Gesturing to a petit woman who looked only twenty years old at most he announced, "Shay, this is Ariadne our architect."

"Hey, nice to meet you." Ariadne said cheerfully with a wide smile.

"Nice to meet you too, I don't mean to be rude but…how long have been in the business?" Fraya asked as politely as she could manage.

Ariadne seemed to search her eyes for any sign of hostility. Fraya could see the moment that the young architect decided that she was simply curious, "About seven months now."

"Wow not long," Fraya commented with a smile as she turned to look at the dark skinned man who hadn't moved out from behind a bench covered with bubbling mixtures. "Nice to see you again Yusuf and you'll have to excuse my bluntness, but have you finally made any progress with our equation or are we still stuck at the same point we were two years ago when we last worked on it?" Fraya couldn't help the slight condensation that entered her voice as she spoke.

Yusuf's laugh however was dripping condensation, "Ah Shay…Shay, Shay, Shay. You insult me so! Of course I've found a solution!"

"Oh really?" Fraya raised a delicate brow. "Have you created a working compound yet?"

"Well…no."

"Ha! Then how can you say you've found a solution if it's simply theoretical?" She shot back.

However before Yusuf had a chance to respond a new voice joined their conversation. "Just because there's not a physical compound doesn't necessarily mean the theory it invalid!"

With a quick wink to Yusuf, Fraya schooled her features into a face she knew Lea hated, it was a cross of bland and bored, as she turned to face your latest challenger, the one person in the room she had pointedly ignored. "That is true, but in this particular instance your argument is invalid."

The man, who she presumed was Arthur, gave her a hard look that could rival the glare Lea gave her when she played with one of her inventions. Eames wasn't lying about his suits. Arthur was wearing a perfectly pressed black three piece suit that had clearly been tailored to fit his frame perfectly. _'And what a nice frame at that.'_ Fraya thought. The man was indeed quite good looking. His ink black hair had been gelled back in an attempt to distract from his boyish good looks. His dark coffee brown eyes displayed an expression of cold indifference as he retorted in a voice cold as ice, "And how, pray tell, does this instance differ?"

"Well since you asked oh so nicely!" Fraya said, voice dripping sarcasm. "Yusuf and I used to work together a few years back and I bet him that I could find an equation that he would not be able to create a physical compound for and if he does than I would let him have free rein of a lab that would rival even the great Tony Starks."

Arthur scoffed at this, "And how would you have access to a lab like that?"

"Simple, it belongs to my best friend; maybe you've heard of her, Lea Tanen-Emble?" Fraya smirked as Arthur's face fell as he realised that he didn't have a comeback for that.

Eames' laughter broke the tense silence that had enveloped the room. "Introductions aside, I trust that Cobb has only given you the basic details of the job, yes?"

"Basic would be being generous Eames." Fraya said, tossing a teasing smile at Cobb.

"I'm sure that Arthur will fill you in on the details while I help Ariadne with her design." Cobb said dismissively. As he walked away with the young woman he turned over his shoulder to say, with a wicked grin on his face, "Oh and Arthur play nice."

Arthur said nothing but shot him a glare that could have turned a man to stone. Turning once more to face her Arthur gestured towards a neatly organised desk, "This way." He said curtly.

Following the point man Fraya couldn't help but admire the air of collected confidence the man held. Well, that and his firm hind quarters which practically begged to be held. Trying her hardest not to smirk at the thought she took a seat opposite him and waited for Arthur to speak.

Arthur handed her a manila folder, "The marks name is Jake Alvarez, he's a hacker who works for this man." He pointed to a photo of a man in his mid-fifties before continuing, "We have been hired by this woman," he handed her a photo of a woman in her mid to late twenties. "Jensen hacked into her personal computer three weeks ago and stole some private information but she's not sure what information it was exactly, so it's our job to find out what information he got and determine if it's worth her putting out a hit on him."

"And for that you need me?" Fraya asked sceptically.

"According to Cobb your best at tactical extractions." Was Arthur's curt reply.

"Well I wouldn't say the best but-" Fraya was cut off by a British voice behind her.

"Modesty darling will get you nowhere." Fraya turned to face the grinning Eames.

"As I recall Mr Eames my modesty has saved your behind on more than one occasion." She reminded with a smile.

"Ahhh but I do believe you'll find that was less your modesty than it was your con-foolery." He retorted.

Arthur cleared his throat, drawing her attention once more. "If you wouldn't mind Eames you have work to do and Shay needs to be brought up to speed."

For the first three days Fraya and Arthur clashed repeatedly over anything and everything, from their work ethic, their research paths, hell, even trivial things like the way they had their coffees. It seemed that the only times they weren't arguing they giving each other the silent treatment.

Cobb was starting to question whether bringing Shay in on this job was a wise idea. But after taking her under on a practice run his resolve was concrete. Shay was perfect. Arthur would just have to deal with it.

By the fifth day Arthur and Fraya had reached a mutual understanding: Stay off my back and I'll stay off yours.

By the tenth day Fraya realised that she liked Arthur. (Little did she know he had realised that on the seventh day.)

On day twelve Fraya kissed Arthur. It was slow, hesitant and testing. After three seconds she pulled back and averted her gaze to the floor, only then did she notice it was raining.

Arthur tucked a stray hair behind her ear…his finger tip traced down her jawline…his touch feather light…he slipped a finger under her chin and tilted her head up. Gazing into those beautiful coffee brown eyes Fraya felt as though she could get lost in them forever.

Arthur recaptured her lips and after a few moments she felt his teeth gently nip her lower lip, asking for entrance. She parted her lips and he deepened the kiss.

By day twenty Fraya had accepted that she had well and truly fallen head over heels for this guy. And that was one of the biggest mistakes someone in the dreamshare business could make. The Cobbs ar-were a perfect example of what could happen. When you're in the dreamshare business you have to learn how to separate your personal life from your professional life. That's why Eames had drilled the importance of an alias into her when she had first started working with him. To this day she still didn't know his real name.

So why then, did she have the biggest urge to tell Arthur her real name?

Day twenty one…the day of the clusterfuck excuse of a job.

All was going so well until the mark's projections started getting violent. Eames and Ariadne were either dead, or awake depending on how you look at it. Fraya and Arthur decided now was the time to put their back up plans into action.

That was when shit hit the fan.

Neither co-worker had discussed their back up plan with the other and so when Arthur led the mark into the room where the safe was located, fully intending to scare the code out of the man, and he found the room engulfed by shadows he pulled his gun.

There was a ripple in the shadows. The gun was fired. There was a cried of pain. A familiar voice… "Shay?!" suddenly the shadows retreated back to the figure lying in the middle of the room in a puddle of her own blood.

Before Arthur had a chance to react the mark fled and the dream collapsed around him plunging him into darkness.

He awoke to see Eames trying to calm a frantic Shay.

As soon as her eyes fell on him her panicked expression was replaced by one of pure rage. "You bastard! You fucking shot me!"

"I-I'm sorry…" Arthur stuttered running his hand through his hair.

"What were you thinking!? Why would you bring the mark in when I was working?!" Shay was practically screaming by this point.

"Quiet! Do you want to wake the mark?!" Arthur scolded.

"Don't worry about that," said Ariadne from where she stood in the door way. "I gave the mark another sedative." Arthur nodded gratefully. His thoughts were broken by Eames' voice.

"Fr-Shay where are you going?!" the forger had grabbed the extractors upper arm in a firm but gentle grip, holding her in place.

"Well unlike some people I can actually do my job. So I'm going to go and email the information so we can at least walk away from this with some money." Fraya explained, glaring at the forger for almost calling her by her real name.

"How were you able to even locate the safe among the shadows in the room? Speaking of which where did those shadows even come from?" Arthur asked.

"There's a reason I'm called the Shadow Extractor. And a reason why I work alone!" She replied in huff.

"How can you work alone? You're just an extractor!" Arthur retorted in frustration.

Fraya turned around to pin him with a death glare that could cut through steel. "_Just_ an extractor?! I'm not _just_ anything! I was only hired for this job as an extractor but I could have done this whole job on my own and pulled it off without everything going to hell!"

"Well maybe if you had of actually stuck to the plan then the job wouldn't have 'gone to hell'!" Arthur yelled back.

"If I had of stuck to the plan we would have been dead within seconds!" Fraya reasoned angrily as she once again turned to leave.

"You don't know that! The plan would have worked!" Arthur insisted. Fraya stopped.

"It would have worked if the mark hadn't of been militarised! Surely you're not that stubborn to admit that you missed that in the research!" Fraya accused.

"Surely you're not that stupid to think that I didn't check to see if his was militarised! The research said he wasn't!" Arthur said. He regretted the words the second Fraya turned around and he saw the mixture of hurt and anger in her eyes.

"Stupid? _Stupid_ enough to think that I could trust you! _Stupid_ enough to think that I had fallen for you!" Fraya spat in a venomous tone, to Eames she spoke more kindly, though the tension never left her body, "You have my new number, when I have the money I'll text you the details of the account. We'll be in touch."

And with that she turned around and left. Catching a taxi to the airport she boarded her private jet planning to simply forget this whole ordeal, when her phone buzzed heralding an incoming message.

Groaning she saw it was from Eames. She read it quickly.

_Darling I know that you're probably still annoyed but we have a slight problem. Turns out the marks brother has been looking for him for the past hour and spotted you leaving the warehouse. He waited until the mark had exited the building before entering. Don't worry I was the only one that stuck around and they didn't see me but apparently the sedative that Ariadne gave the mark didn't affect his hearing and he heard me and Arthur talking. He wanted to know where you were going and I told him the airport. _

_Darling I think the mark made you in the dream because he said something about putting a hit on you. You as in Fraya not Shay. Be careful._

"Fantastic!" She exclaimed. Sending a quick thanks to Eames she pulled out her phone to warn Lea. As the number dialled Fraya thought of how she was going to word this. The last time she had had a mark on her Lea was less than pleased to say the least.

"Yo, what's up Fraya, how's the job going?" Lea's voice was light and held a slightly mocking tone as she asked.

Fraya forced her own voice to sound as nonchalant as possible as she replied, "Oh you know the job went ok…it's just…well… Nothing really… Umm, if you wanna like, stay out tonight after your little showcase thingy. You know go to one of those… Interesting after parties, I totally get that, and you don't have to worry about coming home. It's fine. I will entertain myself, aha…" she laughed awkwardly, knowing she sounded anything but casual.

"Right, well I shall be coming home, so you won't have to entertain yourself my dear. And do remember to have fun with your job. Bye bye." And with that Lea hung up.

"No Lea! Ugh! You freaking suck!" Fraya yelled into the now beeping phone. Hanging up she pegged the phone at the door to the cockpit.

The co-pilot opened the door hastily. "Miss Archer, is everything alright?!"

Fraya scolded, "No! Everything is not 'alright'! Do you have any idea how frustrating it is when the idiotic shit heads that you work with mess up the most simplest of tasks like giving someone the right type of sedative? It's frustrating as hell! Now I have to go home and wait for some armature that's meant to kill me! I mean come on! The last three assassins failed so why do they even bother hiring new ones!?" Fraya sighed. "Sorry. Umm…If you could forget…"

The co-pilot shook his head with a slight smile. "Already forgotten miss. And as always, if you need any assistance…" he trailed off as he always did, it was comfortingly familiar.

Fraya shook her head, "And as always: it's nothing I can't handle." He smiled before bending to pick up her phone.

Handing it back to her he told her, "I think it's broken Miss Archer."

Fraya shrugged. "No worries I'll get Lea to make me another one."

"You may want to ask her for one that's wall proof." He joked.

"Where would the fun in that be?" she laughed.

It was around nine that night. All Fraya wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed. But no…instead she was standing on the roof of the building across the street watching some half arsed 'assassin' trying (and failing rather spectacularly) to get pass Lea's advanced specially made security system.

Peering through the scope of her Barret 50 cal. sniper rifle at the man she waited for her opportunity.

She didn't have to wait too long. After a few moments the man turned. Fraya smirked. "Boom boom motherfucker." Pulling the trigger she watched the man fall.

"Well that's one problem down." She muttered to herself.

She quickly made her way back across the street. Shouldering her prized weapon she undid the security and pulled the now lifeless body inside.

Leaving the man by the wall she grabbed one of the landlines, dialling quickly she waited until Wolfe, her most trusted assistant, to answer. "This is Wolfe." Was his rough response.

"Wolfe, it's me, I need you to do a job for me." Fraya said curtly.

"What you need miss Archer?" his voice was all business.

"I need you to do a grab and dump for me."

"Leave them by the back door. I'll be there in five." And with that he disconnected.

Fraya smiled as she pulled the man to the back door before heading upstairs for a well-earned glass of wine…or maybe scotch…

Ten minutes later Fraya watched as Wolfe drove away. It was only when his red car was heading around the corner that she allowed herself to relax.

The quiet of the penthouse was deafening. Fraya hated silence. With no one and nothing to distract it her mind wondered to things she would rather forget. Things like Point Men and their lazy smiles in the early hours of the morning that revealed their die for dimples. And the way the corners of Arthur's eyes would crinkle when he laughed. She groaned. How could she allow herself to drop her defences like that?!

Before she had a chance to think too much of it Lea walked in. Fraya smiled up at her friend. It was amazing how the dull atmosphere of the penthouse would change the second her friend walked through the door. It was one of the reasons why she loved living with her: she always managed to distract Fraya from the unwanted thoughts the silence brang.

After a quick greeting Fraya sighed and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. "As much as I would love to bitch about the point man I seriously need sleep," she paused and smirked, "well you know, the non-dreaming type where you don't have to watch out for bat shit crazy projections. Night." and with that Fraya took her leave. Hopefully it would rain tomorrow so she would have an excuse to sleep in.

**A/N Hey Hey you guys and girls, CovenantGirlLoki here!**

**Ok so as you know this is a COLLAB story, so I'll be writing every second chapter so if ever you think that the story is taking too long to update…its more than likely my fault.**

**Also just in case anyone is still confused: Shay is Fraya's alias…well one of them.**

**Anywho this is also Pikatainment's FIRST story so be kind and review nicely! Any flames are to be sent to me via PM ok? Ok!**

**CGL**


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